Senior Jasmine Qin was decked out in red plaid as she sat between her fellow seniors at the first rally of the year on Sept. 11. Leaping to her feet to cheer with fellow seniors, Qin gave no outward indications she was new to the school.
Little would they know that Qin is actually a transfer student from Evergreen Valley High School of the East High Union District. Approximately 2,715 students attend the school.
Qin previously lived in Evergreen Valley, an area nestled in central San Jose, for 11 years. Her family’s decision to move to Saratoga and attend a new school during her senior year was a choice that involved difficulties with Evergreen’s administration.
“I transferred to [SHS] because I needed a fresh start,” Qin said. “Junior year was tough, not academically, but health-wise.”
At one point during 11th grade, Qin dealt with health issues that prevented her from attending school for months at a time. She was homeschooled during that time period.
Qin’s relationship with the administration at Evergreen hit several bumps in the road. She often felt uncomfortable when seeking help. She even felt ashamed at times for reasons that she believes were unfairly handled by the administration.
Even though Qin believes the administration there needs to form better policies, she does not blame Evergreen entirely for these issues; she attributed these issues to its inexperience as a relatively young school of less than 20 years.
“With my health conditions, I could not handle being their guinea pig anymore,” Qin said. “I wasn’t planning to move to a different city, but a few weeks before school started this year, my parents decided to sell our house and move to Saratoga for me.”
Qin served as a class officer for two years at Evergreen and was heavily involved in school-wide activities. She also played for the volleyball team and recounts playing in several unforgettable, sweat-inducing games with her former teammates. Qin, however, did not try out for the Saratoga team because she wanted to participate in drama.
In addition to the differences in academic rigor, Evergreen does not offer as many AP classes or have the resources to accommodate for a greater variety of course choices. Because of the lack of resources, she said most students were forced to seek guidance from outside institutions.
“The students themselves are just as competitive as SHS students, but they do not enjoy the same privileges, such as full-time guidance counselors and tutorials,” Qin said.
At Evergreen, Qin did not have a block schedule, open campus during lunch hour, a wide variety of cafeteria food or an accessible library.
“I feel like I know my guidance counselor of six weeks at SHS better than I knew the counselor I had for three years back at Evergreen,” Qin said.
Based on Qin’s observations of SHS, the dances, rallies, yearbooks, ASB events, athletic gear, music groups and other parts of SHS life seems to be heavily funded by the ASB budget and PTSO funds. At Evergreen, Qin said everything took a colossal amount of fundraising to just put on one event.
On the other hand, she described the club cultures at both schools as strong and well rounded.
“I was really excited to see all of the different clubs at [SHS] on Club Day,” Qin said. “Although I don’t know if I’ll be joining any as a senior, I am really pleased to see that I go to a school where kids are passionate about so many different fields.”
Upon helping the senior class prepare decorations for Homecoming, Qin misses Evergreen’s biggest event, “Battle of the Classes.” Similar to the Homecoming class competitions each October at SHS, the event took months of planning and preparation.
“Every class went all out for this event, and the campus was always buzzing with excitement during that week,” Qin said. “I am incredibly pumped and happy to be apart of Homecoming this year and see what class competition is like at SHS.”
Since transferring to SHS, Qin has experienced several positive interactions with other students and staff members.
“I think the students here excel at the level that they do because the teachers know how to teach so well,” Qin said.
Qin also says all of her classmates and teachers have been incredibly kind and welcoming to her, especially as she learns more about the school.
“I had no idea what to expect coming to SHS as a senior, but the transition has been so much better than I expected,” Qin said.
